One, Two, Three, FOUR
by Alfred F. America Jones
Summary: "The Drums that whisper things in your head. On and on and on they go. Chaos, destruction, pain, loss. One, two, three, FOUR." After the Solar Storm in The Flesh Prison, the Doctor is able to hear the Drums of War. Suddenly, the Master somehow follows him around. AU. No slash planned.


Flesh Room- Amy and Rory:

"We have to find the Doctor, Amy."

"Yes, Rory, we do. Stay here, I'll look."

Rory nodded.

Amy didn't have to search long.

Outside- the Doctor and Amy:

"Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor?!"

The Doctor's eyes snapped open.

"Yes I can, Amelia, yes. That's nice."

"What?"

The Doctor nodded. "I can hear it. Can you hear it?"

Amy blinked. "Are you alright, Doctor?"

"No… not okay. I have a horrible headache."

Amy grabbed the Doctor. "Here, come on, get up." Amy prodded the Doctor.

The Doctor, with Amy's help, slowly stood up.

"Let's get back to the others now."

The Doctor sneezed. "Okay, let's… let's go."

After a few steps, the Doctor's eyes widened. "That sounds like… drums? Yes, yes, Drums. Can you hear the Drums, Amy?"

Amy grew worried. "No, Doctor, I don't hear the drums. Let's go."

Eventually, Amy and the Doctor made it back to Rory.

Flesh Room- The Doctor, Amy, and Rory:

"Is he okay?" Rory asked.

"No, he said that he had a headache, and he is disorientated."

Rory frowned.

"Can you hear the Drums, Rory?" The Doctor asked.

"No…no, I can't hear any drums doctor."

The Doctor looked annoyed. "Not just ANY drums, Rory, THE Drums."

Rory scratched his head. "What do you mean, THE Drums?"

"The Drums that whisper things in your head. On and on and on they go. Chaos, destruction, pain, loss. One, two, three, FOUR." The Doctor shut his eyes.

"Those Drums." The Doctor winced.

Rory and Amy were silent, until a voice came from the shadows.

"Solar storms aren't good for Time Lords. You should get him checked."

The Doctor blinked. "Who said that?"

The Flesh Doctor stepped out from the shadows. "You did."

"Fantastic. Another one." Amy sighed.

"Hey! We resent that. Seriously, he shouldn't be that hot right now." The Doctor blinked. "I'm right."

Amy checked his fever. "Ouch! His fever is way up!"

The Doctor clutched his head. "One, two, three, four. Never stopping; always pounding."

Amy asked, "Is this normal for Time Lords?"

The Flesh nodded.

"It is for certain ones. The solar storm shook him up so badly, that he started to hear them. They've been there the whole time, just silent to him."

Rory frowned. "Why do you talk like you are different people?"

The Flesh grimaced. "We are, from our point of view."

The Doctor whimpered. "Why are they so loud?"

The Flesh closed the Doctor's eyes.

"They're always that loud. Sleep."

The Doctor fell asleep.

The Flesh Doctor smiled. "Well, come along, Ponds."

The Ponds followed the Flesh Doctor back into the room with everyone else.

Main Room- Humans:

"Hello." The Doctor announced his presence. "Seriously, you need to evacuate this prison."

"My prison; my rules."

The Flesh Doctor snorted. "You do realize that if you stay here; you will either die to acid or the storm right? Those are the only choices if you stay: death or death."

"Where would we go? We're on a tiny island away from civilization!"

"Follow me, I'll show you," The Flesh Doctor said. CRASH!

"What was that?" Rory asked.

"I don't know…" Miranda said.

Outside- The Doctor:

When the Doctor woke up, he wasn't happy. His head was STILL pounding! The Drums wouldn't stop. They whisper things… strange things…

Now, they want him to find the other Flesh. He got up.

He would trust the Drums, for now.

The Bathroom- Jennifer:

After Flesh Jennifer destroyed the bathroom, she went to find the other Flesh.

She took a long time, so, she only caught the end of Miranda's speech. "-have to kill them."

Flesh Jennifer nodded. They have to fight fire with fire.

"Hello, strangers…" The Doctor said to the flesh.

He smirked as they pulled their weapons on him. "No, no; I'm on your side."

They eyed him warily.

"I'm serious! But, I have one question for you… Can you hear the Drums too?"

The Flesh shook their heads.

"DAMN! CAN ANYONE ELSE HEAR THEM?!"

Flesh Jennifer asked, "What do they sound like?"

The Doctor took a moment to think. "They just sound like Drums, but their message is deeper. They speak of pain, loss, destruction… war."

"What's the plan?" the Doctor asked.

"We kill all of the humans and escape to civilization." Flesh Miranda said.

"I only have one objection to that. My friends, Amy and Rory, need to survive."

"Let us discuss."

The Flesh took five minutes to discuss the fate of Amy and Rory Pond.

"They will be spared." The Doctor nodded.

Meanwhile, back in the main room:

The Flesh Doctor signaled for Amy and Rory to follow him into a corner.

"Do you think you did that?" Amy whispered.

"Hopefully not, but, it is possible."

Rory whispered. "Let's go check on you… him."

They snuck back into the flesh room.

Flesh Room- Amy, Rory, Flesh Doctor:

"He's gone!" Amy exclaimed.

"But, I thought he was sick! How could he move?" Rory asked.

"The Drums are giving him strength, guidance. If we aren't by his side, he may destroy the whole factory."

"Let's go!" Amy said.

Meeting Room- Flesh and Doctor:

The Flesh could hear Amy, Rory, and the Flesh Doctor coming. "By the plan, then, Doctor."

The Doctor smirked. "Indeed."

Miranda hit a pressure point on the Doctor's neck. The Doctor collapsed.

Just then, Amy, Rory, and the Doctor rushed into the room.

"DOCTOR!" Amy yelled.

"We have your friend. Give us the acid suits or he dies."

The Doctor scowled. "We don't have acid suits… but, they're back in the Flesh Room."

Amy and Rory led the way.

Flesh Room-Everyone:

The humans gave the Flesh the acid suits, in return for the Doctor.

Amy quickly gave woke the Doctor.

"Doctor, did they hurt you?"

The Doctor blinked owlishly. "The Drums would never hurt me."

Rory frowned. "No, Doctor, the Flesh."

"They just knocked me out." Amy sighed in relief.

The Flesh put on the acid suits and ran into the control room.

Control Room:

The Doctor, the Flesh Doctor, Amy, and Rory ran into the control room. The other Flesh were quickly behind.

"We can't all make it." The Flesh Doctor sighed. "The Flesh is too strong. We can only hold them back."

The Flesh Doctor and Miranda held the door closed until the rest of the group was gone.

"We have to go like this." Miranda said, "They need to survive." The Flesh Doctor nodded.

"We must." The Flesh blasted the door open and eliminated them.

The TARDIS- Amy, Rory, the Doctor:

The Doctor sighed as he set the TARDIS to drifting through space. He had to confront this now.

Or… did he? One, Two, Three, FOUR.

The Drums said he could wait… but… he'd do it for Rory.

"Amy, Rory, I have some bad news."

Amy frowned. "What is it, Doctor?"

He sighed heavily. He scanned Amy with his sonic screwdriver and watched as the Flesh melted to the floor.

"AMY! DOCTOR, HOW-WHY?!"

The Doctor grimaced. "That wasn't our Amy. Our Amy has been missing for a long time."

"Aah!" The Doctor fell to his knees.

"Not… now… please…"

The Doctor fell into a dead sleep.


End file.
